If you follow my blog then you probably already know that we visited the country of the Netherlands over the Easter weekend, but today I'm going to talk about our first stop in the country, the city of Haarlem.
We arrived there early in the morning on Saturday but we didn't end up staying there long because parking was pretty expensive and the meter would only allow us to pay for an hour and a half at a time.
Mostly, we just didn't want to keep going back and forth to feed it, so an hour and a half would have to do.
That ended up being enough time for us though.
Enough time to wander the streets and side streets...
to walk along the canal...
and to see the sights that we wanted to see.
The canals in any town or city in the Netherlands are always so beautiful in my opinion.
You really can't walk 10 feet without taking a few photos, or maybe that's just me?
Canals are one of my favorite things about the country actually.
We saw this garden center in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
It was neat seeing, essentially, a large outdoor garden right in the middle of people's homes.
It is currently tulip season in the country though, so there were many boxes and planters full of flowers all around the city.
We walked through this outdoor market selling mounds of cheese and produce and other local specialties. I wanted to take photos in there but it was so crowded that I couldn't be bothered to hold up the foot traffic or get in people's way. That's always the case with me and markets - never taking photos but wishing I had, knowing that I will regret it later. You know how it goes.
Here's my wife stopping to take a photo of a cat sleeping in the sun. She does that regularly.
Haarlem wasn't our main stop for the day, it was just a stop over along the way to other destinations to stretch our legs and to get an extra pin!
The town was really quite nice though and a person could easily make it their main destination if they wanted to.
I really like these bridges that are quite common to see in the country.
They are built to be raised to allow boats to pass through them. That's probably pretty obvious, but then, I like to point out the obvious.
The windmill that you've seen in multiple photos so far is called De Adriaan windmill and it's a famous landmark of the city that dates back to 1779.
It actually burnt down in 1932 but was rebuilt in 2002. The cause of the fire was never determined.
Haarlem is located in the province of North Holland about a 30 minute drive from Amsterdam.
It's situated along the Spaarne river which gives it the nickname Spaarnestad, or Spaarne city. It was built on a small strip of land that is above sea level known as the Strandwal and like many parts of the country Haarlem has been been battling against water from the North sea and Haarlem lake for much of its existence - or so I read.
In a way, water sort of defines many parts of the country though. It's a defining feature in nearly every town or city.
A very large canal runs through Haarlems center and in the past the city gained its wealth by enacting tolls on travelers and ships using the river.
Nowadays, rows of houses and buildings line the banks of the canal making it a very picturesque location and a great spot to take a stroll along the water.
Heading into the old town brings you to a large cathedral and the large square plaza.
There you will find a lot of restaurants and bars...
and lots of shopping streets with quaint little stores and boutiques. There are big brand name stores in the area as well but I personally find those to be less interesting.
I liked the old buildings and the flemish architecture known as Flemish Renaissance Revival.
It's basically the style with the stepped roofs. At least that is how I've come to recognize it. It's common in the Netherlands and Belgium and even some parts of Northern France.
The old town was quite charming actually and definitely a spot that would be nice to sit at a cafe terrace to watch the people.
Our hungry parking meter prevented us from doing that but we still enjoyed walking around and seeing everything there was to see.
There was a fair set up in the square the day we were there so we probably would have tried to find a spot out of the noise on one of the side streets.
An hour and a half goes by quickly but we felt like we saw a lot of the city during our time there. It was enough to realize that we really liked the town.
Its not my favorite place in the country but it's located in a really good spot to explore the surrounding area too, so it would definitely make for a good home base if you had a few days in the Netherlands.